French airline Air France announced Sunday that it would suspend flights to Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel, and Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, “until at least August 26,” AFP reported.
The decision was justified by the escalation of tensions between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.
Given the current situation, “this Sunday and tomorrow’s flights [segunda-feira] “will be cancelled,” an Air France spokesman said, admitting that the suspension could be extended.
The French company, which operates daily services to the two cities, will provide an update on Monday, he added, without providing details on what its “low-cost” subsidiary Transavia, which also flies to the two cities, will do.
In response to the killing of one of its military leaders in an Israeli attack on July 30, Hezbollah launched attacks on military bases in Israel and the Syrian Golan Heights occupied by Tel Aviv.
This situation forced Israel to respond by destroying “thousands of Hezbollah rocket launch sites” and declaring a state of emergency.
Violence in Lebanon has killed 605 people since October, including 391 Hezbollah fighters and at least 131 civilians, according to an AFP poll.
According to Tel Aviv authorities, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians were killed on the Israeli side.
Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip last October, Hezbollah (pro-Iran) and its allies, including the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, have claimed responsibility for attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon.
In recent weeks, many countries have called on their citizens to leave Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based, and several airlines have suspended flights to the region.
German airline Lufthansa announced a few days ago that it would extend the suspension of flights to Beirut until September 30, as well as to Tel Aviv and Tehran (the capital of Iran) until September 2.
Flights to Amman (Jordan) and Erbil (Iraq), which were also suspended, will resume on August 27.
The first airlines to cancel flights with stopovers in Tel Aviv were North American airlines Delta and United, but others quickly joined in, including American Airlines, Ryanair and easyJet.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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